Benefits of Original Music for Twitch Streams

The easiest solution? Play music you have the rights to. I mean, background music that you have the license to play and use commercially. You also have to make sure it is royalty-free and that you have adhered to the rules the producer has set out to have the necessary permission before using it live.

Fortunately, there is another alternative you can do instead of relying on other people’s music: create your own.

Though this sounds like more of a hassle, the truth may be far from it. Using your soundtrack could make your life easier, especially if you love making music yourself. Believe it or not, using original music of your own composition will help you avoid DMCA much more effectively.

In this post, I’ll cover the benefits of original music for Twitch streams, how to create your own soundtrack, and the best ways to make your background music DMCA-safe. Let’s begin!

How Using Original Music Can Help Your Twitch Stream

Adding background music is important to keep your stream energetic. However, even this simple task could be complicated due to copyright strikes and muting of music content on your streams.

DMCA is a term that, as content creators, we sure hear about a lot. It stands for “Digital Millennium Copyright Act” and was basically created to protect artists and copyright owners from others stealing their work. It’s pretty understandable why there is a law like this. As content creators ourselves, it’s infuriating to see people claiming works that we made ourselves. However, despite the good that comes with this law, there is also the other side of it that we all dread: DMCA violations.

Because DMCA violations can happen at any given moment, it’s important for streamers to safeguard themselves against them. What is the safest way to avoid a copyright strike? Avoid playing anything that you don’t have the rights to play.

Even though you’re itching to play the latest track from your favorite artist, if it isn’t royalty-free music and you don’t have a license to play it, you should avoid it.

Using original music is one of the best ways to avoid a DMCA copyright strike; the other being the use of royalty-free music. Understandably, not everyone could buy a license for a song they like, so why not create one?

How to Give Your Stream an Indie Feel Through Music

Indie songs give a unique and “free” ambiance – maybe because they aren’t from the big record label companies. Incorporating instrumental tracks by indie artists and producers can give your streams a similar “feel.” Your stream stands out more, and people will more likely feel a different vibe when coming to your stream.

Indie songs, or independent music, actually refer to songs that are released by music creators who aren’t affiliated with a record label. That is to say, indie songs can encompass a wide variety of genres, from lo-fi to rock.

Therefore, no matter what your preference in music is, chances are, there is a soundtrack out there in a royalty-free music library where many independent composers are gathered.

Music libraries like Epidemic Sound make finding copyright-free music faster and easier. If you can’t compose music on your own, using services like Epidemic Sound to find songs for your live streams is the best alternative.

Best Music For Twitch Broadcasts

Avoiding licensed music can be done in two ways: create your own music or play free music.

Creating your own music is easier said than done. However, if you also have a passion for music other than streaming, then great. You can create your own music to use for your own stream.

Luckily, Twitch also has a category where artists can enjoy performing their original music live. So, along with streaming games, you can also broadcast playing your own songs. Again, we can’t stress enough the rule of playing music you own the license to.

To create your own soundtrack, you will need to have your own musical instrument and equipment or at least a DAW. DAW is short for Digital Audio Workstation, which are audio devices, apps, or software you can use to produce your own music.

Frankly speaking, it could take some time to learn how to use a DAW and to create a full soundtrack. Therefore, if you need a soundtrack right away (or even in the meantime while you learn how to compose and produce tracks), the best alternative is to find royalty-free music.

However, this option also has its own hassle because artists have different rules when it comes to using their songs, like mandatory chat attribution (although crediting artists is certainly encouraged). It could also take you some time to find the right track that resonates with you, least of all an original one. We’d suggest using trusted soundtrack providers like Epidemic Sound to avoid that.

Epidemic Sound has over 40,000 tracks of all genres and 90,000 sound effects in its audio library. They have one of the largest music libraries of DMCA-safe music you can use on your live stream.

Signing up is easy and only takes a few minutes.

Then, you could find a track either by searching or browsing their library, where you can find songs of any genre, from electronic music to classical. You can also use their music player and add songs to a playlist. This makes it easy to play it on your live Twitch broadcasts later.

Best of all, they offer a 30-day free trial that you can cancel anytime. If you want to try it, you can do so without fearing you will get charged before the free trial is over. You also don’t have to be worried about copyright claims. Even if you’re not subscribed anymore, the music you used in any of your content uploaded before the subscription ended won’t be affected.

They are the easiest soundtrack provider I have ever used. It didn’t take me long to find a song I liked because they recommended great tracks based on my previous likes. All of their tracks are high-quality, too.

Therefore, if you want to play great songs but because you can’t play copyrighted music on your Twitch channel, Epidemic Sound is your best option. Plus, you can use them outside of Twitch, which is great if you also stream YouTube videos or Facebook Gaming.

Conclusion

Copyright infringement is a serious matter. DMCA strikes could happen anytime. The best way to avoid them is to either create your own music or to find a royalty-free soundtrack. Both are great options, but the former might take you some time. However, there is no denying that there are merits to using original music, and one of which is that it helps you steer clear of mutes and bans on Twitch.